Beverage Center - Do any of them not suck?

ladoladiFebruary 7, 2012

Hello:

I have been looking at beverage centers, something to keep wine bottles AND beer bottles. Don't need any can space. Preferably, under $800. However, most of the customer reviews I've read have 3 stars or less and more unfavorable reviews than I am comfortable with. And I've even read reviews for beverage centers in the $900-1100 range. Is anyone happy with their beverage center? Any suggestions?

I have a Marvel 6BARM that I got from a local dealer for around $950. It retails for over $1400. I like it. It's a bit loud when he compressor kicks in, but that's only a few times a day. I was considering Avanti, Danby, and KA among others in the under $1000 range so the savings almost made it a nobrainer. If you search for beekeeperswife or even my ID, you should find a link for Perlick factory seconds. Those sound like great deals too. I'm on an iPhone, otherwise I'd search and post a link for you.

My parents have an avanti at their beach house and it is great. It gets really cold (food safe levels) - some only get to the low 40s which is not cold enough to be food safe. It holds a ton too. It is not terrible looking, but there are others that look nicer - if they would get rid of the black band across the top it would look very nice.

I know I'll get dinged for this, as these are generally not accorded a lot of respect, but we have a Uline 2000 undercounter bev ctr which has been great over the last three years. Works great, looks great.

Most of the upper end beverage fridge companies make dual temperature units for wine and beer/soda, depending on your needs. Some are better than others, don't think there is a great consensus. Perlick, Marvel are the ones that come to mind as being better brands. Good Luck!

'Food-safe' temperatures are not what you want for wine. That's much too cold. Reds in the 60s and whites in the 50s. With beer, it depends. Some you might want around 35, but others (stouts, porters) a bit warmer. Soda of course should be cold, but not frozen.

I've heard of units set for 3 temperatures, but it would be simpler (ie, cheaper) to purchase 2 units, one for wine and the other for soda/beer.

I answered your other thread but we have Elecutrolux IQ-Touch 24" Beverage center under our island. I really like it but it's a bit more limited on storing wine than the horizontal racks (I guess, I don't know which one you're considered. You can keep it upright, and there is a tilting rack at the bottom for wine which can be used in an up/down fashion, if you know what I mean?

We really like it - the controls are under the counter and it holds temp really well. Completely quiet - no sound at all (the Marvel and Danby models are supposed to be fairly loud in terms of the compressor and fan.)

And, it has gliding shelves which pull out smoothly - wish our U-Line in the wet bar had that.

As an aside, we did look at the Perlicks which are supposed to be top notch, but I couldn't find a second or factory-refurb that worked and new was too spendy for me.

Thank you both! The Electrolux looks like it is single zone and we were thinking dual zone. Dee, DH didn't like the look of the Marvel and then said maybe we're trying to do too much and he can just keep his beer in the regular fridge. We don't drink soda and don't really want the kids drinking soda. He suggested that we go back to just having a wine fridge.

DH gets a GE discount but all of the wine fridges listed are single zone. Does that mean it is only for white wine? Or is there a certain temp at which you would store both red and whites?

He saw an 15" he liked - CWR262DZ EdgeStar 26 bottle. It got good reviews on winecoolerdirect.com It is dual zone. What do you think of it?

Does a dual zone wine fridge bring us back up to a close to $2K price point?

Dee, that's exactly right, I like white and he likes red and it has a child safety lock and looks good/compact. Drat, I was afraid it was another Chinese brand. But I didn't see negative reviews on servicing it. Maybe I should ask my local appliance store if they service it and what they think.

They kids do get some diluted juice. Juice is very sugary. And yes, when they go to school and see other kids drinking soda as they get older, we'll have to let them have some. But I doubt in our house we'll have those half gallons of soda that I grew up with (unless we're having a party). Plus, I don't really like all that gas. :) For something like ice cream, they will get that on a special occasion, like someone's birthday. That seems to happen every month or two. They get healthy fruity/granola snacks, Animal Crackers a few times a week for good behavior or if we're eating out (and need to stall for more time)

Thanks Dee. Was there any other suggestion on dual zone wine fridge that didn't cost a fortune besides the Perlick's Seconds whom I do want to call but haven't found the time?

Our brand new SubZero beverage unit is horrendously noisy. (Dealer installed last week.) I may start saving or appropriating $$$ from other remodel funds put aside in order to replace with another brand. It is that bad, the racket it makes. Price, at least in this case, is not always a guarantee of low noise levels...

Looks-wise the SZ is gorgeous but wow, IMO a huge mistake I made when I purchased. We have one of their fridge/freezer units, installed last year, and love it. But that undercounter unit? A total thumbs down from our house. I can hear it running from other rooms, it's that loud.

To the OP: best wishes!! I hope you find something great! The idea is wonderful, to have the little fridge under a counter for extras, drinks, whatever. Good luck to you.

I too am in the market for a new bev fridge (not needing a wine fridge)...this thread has been helpful--our Marvel crapped out after about 4 yrs of service--it was a less expensive one, I think I paid about ~$600 or so for it, but it has always been incredibly noisy and I cannot recommend it (at least their 'lower' models).

Our refrigerator is a SubZ and it is very quiet, so I am surprised to hear their bev fridge is noisy--I had been all set to purchase one until I read the above post.

Am thinking about a Liebherr RU500--they seem to be well built and the price is 'reasonable'; my only gripe would be that the handle does not go all the way down...